Gold Coast Titans bid for a fourth consecutive win when they play host to the Manly Sea Eagles on Saturday night during NRL Round 11 action.

With victories over last year’s grand finalists the Melbourne Storm and Cronulla Sharks over the last few points, is there a hotter team in the NRL than the Gold Coast Titans right now?

Last week’s thrilling 38-36 triumph over the Storm at Suncorp was one of the most entertaining games in recent memory, with the Titans running circles round the normally brick-wall Melbourne defence, condemning them to the unwanted joint-record of scoring the most points but losing.

Gold Coast have registered more points than any other side in the competition, with young halves Kane Elgey and Ashley Taylor deserving a lot of the credit for how they’ve taken control of the team. If they can fix up their defence, the Titans will be a formidable force.

We mustn’t forget their work-rate through the middle, with prop Jarrod Wallace laying a legitimate claim for Origin selection in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, Manly’s up-and-down season continued as they featured in the second game of last week’s double header at Suncorp, blowing a 14-0 lead to succumb 24-14 to the Broncos.

Manly failed to score a point in the final 70 minutes of the match, while they were dealt a double blow as star fullback Tom Trbojevic sustained an ankle injury and will be missing for an extended period.

So much of Manly’s attack in recent weeks have come courtesy of the Trbojevic brothers, so Tom’s absence will be a real test of the Sea Eagles’ credentials this week.

Manly have a decent record on the Gold Coast, winning three of the last five games played up north, but I really like how the Titans are playing right now. They are competing well – as they always have under Neil Henry – but every time they head into the opposition 20m zone they look likely to score. I think they’ll have too much points for Manly on Saturday.